Steve Farrar, Point Man
I recently finished reading Point Man by Steve Farrar. This is an excellent book on manhood/male Christ-like courageous leadership in the home.
I’m probably going to add this book as required reading for men in my pre-marital counseling process and for all members of MANgroup.
Men, get your hands on this book.
Not only is Steve Farrar a good writer, he’s a good man. Decades ago he served as pastor here at Central Peninsula Church, back when our church was very small. I spent over an hour on the phone with Steve Farrar last week and as we interacted about the content of Point Man, it was evident to me that this book was birthed by a man with a genuine concern to see a biblical vision of manhood restored to our homes and churches.
Ted Haggard Update
JT links to a Ted Haggard interview. It looks as though Haggard has received some faulty counseling and has come to some faulty conclusions.
Phone vs. Email
A guest post by Taylor Buzzard:
I have a trivia question for you.
What surprisingly requires all of the following, simultaneously:
Left hand.
Right hand.
Left eye.
Right eye.
Brain.
Physical body orientation.
?
EMAIL. Email requires all of the above, all at the same time. And that is why email has become a thorn in my flesh. Email asks too much of me.
I used to love email. I thought it was fun, a convenient way to plan and touch base with people, a vehicle for being witty and silly with friends, and a way to be creative with writing. But, as of 3 months ago, I now have two young children. And, as of 3 months ago, email demands more than I can give. The inbox piles up higher and higher, and my stress mounts higher and higher. Even as I write about this topic, my heartbeat is accelerating. I just can’t get my email under control.
The phone is much better suited to my lifestyle these days. It allows me to communicate with someone, while still looking at my children, physically interacting with them, and turning my body towards them. Email is like a dark cave that requires me to dive in, whereas the telephone allows me to stay at sea level and multitask. Have you ever noticed that one email topic requires at least 3-4 emails in order to close the issue at hand?
Here’s an example:
Email #1: Do you want to meet up for coffee sometime this week?
Email #2: Sure. I’m free on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.
Email #3: Oh, bummer, I’m busy those nights. How about Friday morning?
Email #4: Sounds great. Want to meet at Peet’s at 9 am?
Email #5: You’re on. See you there.
Email #6: Alright. See you Friday morning.
I don’t think I exaggerated while writing this out. Six emails for a coffee date. A one-minute phone call could have taken care of all of that.
So, what to do, what to do? I can’t close my email account and call it quits. Email is a component of our modern life, and it would be unwise to pull the plug. I’m looking for ways to live with it without letting it weigh me down. One suggestion I’ve received is to create 3-4 folders where I immediately file every incoming email (To Read, To Answer, Pending, etc.). That way the inbox is always orderly. I’m going to start with this tactic. And if this doesn’t relieve my email stress, I think I will take more serious action and move to the second suggestion I received: to create an auto-reply message that states that I check email on days x, y, and z, and if a response is needed sooner, to please call me.
Email, email, I used to love you so.
Email, email, now I long to let you go.
Email, email, let’s try to make this work.
Email, email, before I go berserk.
Unhappy Christians
-MLJ, Foreward, Spiritual Depression: Its Causes And Its Cure
My Cagefighter Twin
Joe Thorn sent me an email today, saying that when he first saw the photo of this Mixed Martial Arts fighter (the guy on the right), he thought it was me. What do you think?
Taylor Buzzard: Advice for Fathers
A guest post by Taylor Buzzard:
Greetings, Buzzard Blog readers. Mrs. Buzzard reporting. I am happy to announce that I am back on the blogging band-wagon. Four score and seven moons ago (or, mid-2008), I wrote two blog posts, only to disappear without explanation. Toddlerhood, pregnancy, preparing the home for another child, birth, and adjusting to mothering two sons kept me away from contributing to the blogosphere. But I’m back and I’m sticking around (Justin’s holding me to this: he wouldn’t publish this post until I had my second post written–smart man.).
So, why this sudden change? This past weekend Justin gave me a golden gift. He took our lovable, energetic 2-year-old son to Sacramento to visit his grandparents for the weekend. And, by so doing, he gave me the home to myself for over 48 hours. What rejuvenation I experienced! I took a giant step back from the unceasing demands of daily life, I took deep breaths, and I rested. Who would have thought that two full days alone in my home could make such a difference for this woman, but they did.
And I said that I was alone…that’s kind of funny, I actually wasn’t alone at all. I spent the whole weekend with my sweet 3-month-old son by my side. But, he doesn’t talk, or move, or put himself in dangerous situations, or make much of a mess. I can’t imagine what it would have been like to have had absolutely zero care-taking responsibility throughout the weekend. That just might have put me into shock.
During my personal retreat weekend, I got to thinking about the bigger picture. I began to think beyond what to serve for breakfast, which park to visit, when to go to the grocery store, and how to effectively disciple my toddler. And I realized that Justin prodding me to continue blogging was also God prodding me to continue blogging. It’s good for me, it challenges me, and it gets me out of peanut butter and burping.
In conclusion, the point of this blog post is to tell men that it is a great idea to get the post-infanthood children out of the house for a weekend and leave your wife to enjoy her home in peace and solitude. Going to visit grandparents is a smart way to make this happen, as you can count on extra hands for crowd control. If you are not yet a husband or a father, tuck this tip away for later use. You will really like the refreshed woman to whom you return.
Ask About Regret
I’m finding that one of the most helpful questions I can ask godly people a decade or three older than me is: what do you regret doing or not doing when you were my age?
A few months ago, as I approached my 30th birthday, I asked a 50+ year-old mentor/former pastor of mine this question. He paused and thought for a few moments. Then, he told me that he regrets having learned the value of Scripture memorization late in life. He wished he had started memorizing large chunks of Scripture and using that in the pulpit when he was in his thirties.
That was valuable information for me to learn.
I’m going to keep asking older men and women this question. You should too.
I Want a Wingsuit
This is insane. Watch the whole video. I want a Wingsuit.
wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.
HT: Dunlap
Subversive Galatians
“When, from time to time, someone appeared who understood and proclaimed the genuine message of Galatians, he was liable to be denounced as a subversive character—as, indeed, Paul was in his own day. But the letter to the Galatians, with its trumpet call to Christian freedom, has time and again released the true gospel from the bonds in which well-meaning but misguided people have confined it so that it can once more exert its emancipating power in the life of mankind, empowering those who receive it to stand fast in the freedom with which Christ has set them free.”
-F.F. Bruce
Galatians: Living in Step with the Truth of the Gospel
Tomorrow night I begin a new series on Galatians.
I’m eager to watch how God will use our 5 month soak in this book.
God is doing a great work in our midst right now as we’re seeing twentysomethings from all over the San Francisco Peninsula come to faith in Jesus, grow in the gospel, experience true community, gain godly ambition for their lives, and develop a love for the local church and a heart of mission to lost people in a very lost place. For more…
God has also burdened my heart to devote much time to calling out and discipling men. For this Galatians series, 4 of the 7 men who I meet with regularly in MANgroup (I hope to blog about the identity, structure, and purpose of MANgroup in the future) will get some experience teaching/preaching before our whole community.
